By Dave Lahr: Bernd Boente, the manager for World Boxing Council heavyweight champion Vitali Klitschko (40-2, 38 KO’s), has put a good spin on Klitschko’s choice of 38-year-old Shannon Briggs (51-5, 45 KO’s) as Vitali’s next opponent on October 16th, saying in an article at Sportsillustrated.cnn.com, “This is going to be a dramatic fight between two of the biggest punching heavyweights.” I don’t how much drama we’ll get out of this fight, as Briggs is three years removed from the last time he fought a top heavyweight. Briggs was beaten by Sultan Ibragimov in 2007, losing his WBO heavyweight title. Ibragimov, a decent but not a great heavyweight, totally schooled Briggs, beating easily by a lopsided 12 round unanimous decision. I see it as a dramatic mismatch against a fighter that should have at least beaten a top tier contender to get his title shot. I already saw Vitali beat up on Albert Sosnowski last time, and now he’s fighting another over-matched opponent.

Now three years later, Briggs hasn’t fought much and has beaten a handful of B level fighters to get a shot against Vitali. This is one of those choices where Briggs has been chosen because of his best resume rather than anything that he’s done recently, and we’re probably way in the past. It’s been years since Briggs beat anyone worth mentioning. Briggs beat Sergey Liakhovich in 2006 to win the WBO heavyweight title, but that’s the last significant win for Briggs. Why Klitschko would pick him now is really bizarre because he’s ranked number #8, and Vitali just finished beating a non top ten heavyweight Alberto Sosnowski in his last fight.

As for the fight being dramatic, I don’t think so. Vitali will play it cool, jab and try to avoid getting hit. Briggs has decent hand speed but he’s carrying around way too muscle on his 6’4” frame. In his last fight against Rob Calloway in May, Briggs weighed 266 and looked solid. That’s too much weight for a heavyweight to be carrying if you ask me. Briggs has been able to get away with it because his fights have been going only two or three rounds due to the low quality of his opposition. But when Briggs was forced to go 12 rounds against Ibragimov three years ago, he was laboring after the 6th round. Briggs weighed 273 on that night. During his prime years, Briggs weighed between 225 and 250 and was fast. He’s really slowed down since bulking up to 270.

With Briggs weighing so much, all Vitali has to do is jab away at Briggs until the 2nd half of the fight and then pick him apart with right hands and left hooks.

Briggs says “For a long time I have been trying hard to fight a Klitschko. Most of their opponents are scared to death when they step into the ring. I will put pressure on Klitschko and take the fight to him. Klitschko can enjoy his belt for a few more weeks. After October 16, it will be mine.” I seriously doubt it. Briggs is too old, doesn’t have the stamina is going to be in shocking from the B level fighters that he’s fought recently to a guy like Klitschko. This is why it’s important for fighters to keep active against top level guys and not just feast on 2nd and 3rd tier opponents, because when some of them do get lucky and get put in with a really good fighter, they’re often not ready. I see this as being the case for Briggs. And he makes things worse by having a bodybuilder physique with a lot of useless muscle that will no doubt serve him no purpose in this fight. I see this fight as being as bad a mismatch as Manny Pacquiao’s fight against Antonio Margarito.